Tokyo Marathon 2013

If you aren’t running (even winning the race to the starting line is quite competitive and in fact 90% of the 304,000 who applied failed at the first hurdle last August) you might think about going to watch Tokyo’s new Governor, Naoki Inose, and the 35,000 or so other runners setting off from outside his office, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Buildings, shortly after 9am on Sunday.

Have a look at the course map on the official website for more details on where might be the best place to take a look.

Starting at Shinjuku, the race heads across to Iidabashi, around the east side of the Imperial Palace and down towards Shinagawa – past Tokyo Tower – before a hairpin turn takes it back up through Hibiya and Ginza then up towards Asakusa, it then returns along the river, with a Sky Tree view, and eventually crosses over the bridges around Toyosu to Odaiba and the finish line at Tokyo Big Sight. Phew. If you didn’t catch all that, you could take a Google Earth fly-through.

If you have a friend running they’ll be able to let you know their runner number, with which you can track their progress through a mobile or smartphone. If you are more interested in elite runners there’s good news, the 2013 race – the 7th annual Tokyo Marathon – has been added to the World Marathon Majors series, alongside London, Boston, New York, Berlin and Chicago.

Wheelchair race begins at 9:05am, main race starts at 9:10am on Sunday February 24.